Episodes
35
Latest episode
Jun 2026
Language
EN
Decoding Leadership - where we break down the intersection of effective and humane leadership, especially in software product development (engineering, product, and design).
Rebecca Hinds, Ph.D. is a world expert on meetings. She's released a new book on the topic (Your Best Meeting Ever), packed with ideas for how to improve the way your organization focuses, communicates, and works together. We discussed incentives, mechanisms for shaking up ineffective use of time, how to build a culture of effective meetings, and power dynamics.
Todd Etchieson and I were counterparts at New Relic. Of all the people I've worked with, he is one of the best at getting people radically aligned. This is often a huge challenge for product leaders -- the CEO and product leader alignment is notorious for being problematic. He breaks down how he does it, and how he learned to do it so well. We also discuss great product strategy and what it really looks like. We also talk about a new product we canceled because it was off strategy.
Seth Engelhard has worked at some of the more interesting companies in the world: GitLab, Netlify, New Relic, and now Observable. He goes into a lot of detail about what practices he learned from these companies, and what the transition to being the head of engineering has been like. We cover topics like building a support network, transparency, career transitions, running meetings well, and being in an async and remote by default company.
Matt Otis has spent his career around building effective training programs. Training is one of the most important aspects of building a successful organization, but it's often not well understood. Matt had a ton of insights on how to make training really land, and set up people with what they need to succeed. This is useful not just if you're doing training programs (for example, how do you train someone on something you don't know?) He also digs into how training is evolving in modern organizations, especially with the advent of AI.
Diana was a delightful and insightful guest. She is a well-known expert on agile retrospectives, team liftoffs, agile fluency, and building resilient learning teams. She's probably the best in the world at these topics, so learn from her perspective!
Elaine May joined Decoding Leadership for a conversation on how to effectively make change as a leader. Elaine was an early agile practitioner, using it in very non-agile environments! She wrote about using agile methods five years before the agile manifesto. She taught me about a concept she calls change budgets. And shared how to deal with critics and naysayers. And then we talked about SCRUM and some of the downsides in the way it's practiced.
Charity and I had a very personal discussion about the tremendous growth you can make personally as a leader, and the meaning you can derive from having an impact on the lives of the people around you. Full of nuance and perspective, Charity shares how her views have evolved over the years, and how her core values as a leader show up in the work she does. Such a pleasure to share this with you!
Lena shares insights on making space for leadership work, addressing the issues leaders face, and strategies for more thoughtful and rewarding leadership. With experience as a CEO, startup founder, and former VP of engineering, Lena offers a wealth of knowledge on overcoming challenges. We discuss managing energy levels, embracing productivity, and the importance of community and self-awareness in leadership.
I sit down with Beth Long to discuss her extensive experience with reliability engineering from working at companies like New Relic, Jeli, Gruntwork, and Adaptive Capacity Labs. Beth shares her insights on the role of executives in incident management, the balance between product development and reliability, and how different organizations approach incident coordination. We also explore reliability as a product and the importance of organizational culture in effective incident response. I learned a great deal, and thought about some aspects of reliability in completely new ways. I hope you do too!
Reflected Power is a way to use power you don’t have. Join me as I introduce the concept of Reflected Power. Reflected Power is using the authority of those above you to amplify your influence and achieve your goals. We’ll cover the nuts and bolts of how to use the positional authority of the people around you to be more effective. Curious to hear your thoughts on this approach!00:00 Reflecting power: leveraging the power you don’t have00:17 Introduction01:26 What is reflecting power, and what does it look like?03:14 They need to be aligned and view it as important04:04 Can be done with peers, other leaders, and in a networked way05:14 Don't overuse this tool05:32 Delegating up, delegating laterally07:24 Hierarchical thinking can limit us08:18 Creating space for others to use your power09:28 Conclusion
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Jeremy Snyder
Richey Malhotra
Drive Electric Alabama
Proxify
Rupa Singh
The National Academy of Sciences
